CGI and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland built an AI-based tool that enables more efficient use of evaluation results on Finland’s development cooperation. The web-based, openly available tool helps users find and extract relevant insights from large volumes of reports, while supporting planning, reporting and decision-making for the government and external stakeholders.
Transforming text into impactful insights with AI
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs administers vast volumes of documents. Their evaluations on development policy and cooperation form an extensive, complex collection of reports spanning several years. Searching and using information from one report at a time has been time-consuming and laborious.
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“Development cooperation and the use of related funds are monitored very closely in many ways. One of the ways is independent, external evaluations that examine, among other things, what has been achieved and why, as well as the challenges encountered, ” says Nea-Mari Heinonen, Lead Evaluation Specialist, Development Evaluation Unit, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. |
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“Previously, information verified by evaluations had to be searched report by report, section by section. This led to the development of the web-based, openly available OpenEval tool, which integrates analytics and AI into the use of evaluation data on development cooperation. Now, essential information is available through smart searches, thematic filters, and summaries—delivering search results quickly, ” adds Antti Peltola, CGI Director Consulting Services for the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. |
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“The Ministry, and the Government more broadly, has a clear intent to develop new AI-related solutions. Internationally, the evaluation field has been one area where many countries have piloted AI and data science. We have followed these developments and run our own experiments, so this project was a natural step for our unit, ” remarks Heinonen. |
Providing enhanced AI expertise, cloud platforms and user experience
Built on Microsoft Azure AI services, the OpenEval tool (available in English and Finnish) leverages natural language processing, semantic search and machine learning. It breaks down reports—often hundreds of pages—into smaller parts, identifies their themes and sentiment, and enables intelligent search, automated summaries and data visualizations.
Behind-the-scene services include Azure Document Intelligence, Azure AI Search and GPT-4o language models. AI is also used when original documents are uploaded to the system, with the content indexed and analyzed in advance to enable efficient searches.
“The tool uses AI at every step to distill information from original PDF reports into insights users care about most. AI assists when reports are uploaded into the system by structuring content, recognizing metadata and indexing results. Then it helps users search for the correct information and generate summaries and visualizations,” according to Arttu Ruismäki, CGI Consultant for the Central Government unit.
CGI was responsible for the overall technical implementation. Our multidisciplinary team provided enhanced AI expertise, cloud platforms and user experience design.
Expertise from the Ministry also played a significant role in the tool’s development, reporting and alignment with end-user needs—supporting both content and technical decisions. Additionally, a broader steering group oversaw the project to ensure that different perspectives within the Ministry were taken into account.
Enthusiastic internal reception and continued development
The Ministry’s reception for the tool has been very positive. “This was a first of its kind, an AI service that simultaneously serves both civil servants and the general public,” Heinonen noted. The Ministry’s AI task force supported and followed the tool’s development from the start. The tool was presented this autumn at the annual Development Cooperation Results Day, demonstrating how AI can filter and summarize evaluation results by the Sustainable Development Goals or human rights, for instance. Training and guidance facilitated adoption of the tool, and user feedback is being collected for further development.
The openly available tool also helps share evaluation knowledge with external stakeholders such as civil society organizations (CSOs) and other partners. It supports planning, decision-making, analysis, reporting, and communicating results. The information can also validate other sources and provide a comprehensive picture of how effective development cooperation initiatives are when combined with other data sources of the Ministry.
Attracting international interest
The tool is drawing significant global interest within the networks that the Ministry is active in, including the UN, development banks, the OECD, and the EU. Many countries are piloting similar solutions, while others are awaiting administrative guidelines. The Ministry participates in working groups and networks actively exploring joint solutions and sharing lessons learned.
Instead of digging through reports one by one, the AI tool searches and summarizes large document collections—delivering relevant insights in seconds.
The project was delivered on a tight schedule, and the first working version was brought into production quickly. Collaboration with CGI’s team was efficient and smooth, and the tool’s development process itself was both instructive and inspiring.
Lead Evaluation Specialist, Development Evaluation Unit, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland
Efficient and quick delivery
“The project was delivered on a tight schedule, and the first working version was brought into production quickly. Collaboration with CGI’s team was efficient and smooth, and the development process itself was both instructive and inspiring,” Heinonen says.
In addition to CGI’s technical expertise, our team contributed their knowledge on accessibility, UX design and on the specific needs of the public sector. Regular meetings and testing set the pace for the collaboration, which supported an agile way of working.
“We will keep developing the tool further. Currently, the focus is on rolling out current functionalities and training our staff. As the adoption of AI continues to grow, I believe the tool we have developed will also serve the administration more broadly by paving the way for adopting other AI solutions, too,” Heinonen concludes.
*Note: This image is an AI-generated visualization from the OpenEval tool showing coverage of the UN Sustainable Development Goals within the evaluative evidence (available in English and Finnish).
